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JINN MAGAZINE

PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE

Issue No. 4.25

12/07/98 - 12/20/98

CONTENTS


* VOICES: First-Person Essays Linking the Private to the Public

    A Lesson in Community for the Holidays
    By Dorothy Chin
    Date: 12-08-98
    It's a time of lists -- of those who get cards, or presents, or a telephone call, a season when people try to think in terms of a community. But for Americans of an older generation, community represents a much more regular current. PNS contributor Dorothy Chin is a psychotherapist and writer living in southern California.

    Life Support -- With No Spare Parts
    By Mark O'Brien
    Date: 01-10-98
    Advances in technology, in particular miniaturization and computers, have made a powerful difference in the practice of medicine, especially with respect to medical appliances. But this progress can have very unhappy effects as PNS correspondent Mark O'Brien discovered on Thanksgiving Day. Author of two books of poetry and a forthcoming autobiography, "How I Became A Human Being" (Kadansha Press, 1998), he is the subject of the 1997 Oscar-winning documentary "Breathing Lessons" (Inscrutable Films in collaboration with Pacific News Service). A photo of Mr. O'Brien is available from PNS. Call George Gundrey at (415-438-4755).

    A Christmas Wish for the Undocumented
    By Rodolpho Carrasco
    Date: 12-15-98
    By any standard, Luis has been a success in his new home -- for himself and for his family. But he is troubled because he is in this country illegally, and believes he can -- and must -- resolve that situation now. PNS commentator Rodolpho Carrasco is associate director of Harambee Christian Family Center in Pasadena, Calif. and a columnist for the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group, where an earlier version of this story first appeared.

    Immigrants See Washington Scandal as Modern Morality Tale
    By Sarita Sarvate
    Date: 12-16-98
    The gravest mistake Americans could make right now is to dismiss the need for a national soul-searching over our social mores as a whim of the religious right. Sarita Sarvate is a writer who was born and raised in India. A longer version of this piece appears in India Currents, a monthly published in San Jose, Ca.


* VECTORS: A Regular Column on the Ideas and Directions Behind Today's News

    The Age of World Law is Not On Its Way -- It's Here
    By Walter Truett Anderson
    Date: 12-07-98
    A high-profile arrest and a major international celebration may seem unrelated, but both are in fact signs of a changed world. We have come to a time when one set of laws binds all people and involves all governments. PNS associate editor Walter Truett Anderson, author of "Evolution Isn't What It Used To Be" (W.H. Freeman), is a political scientist who writes widely on technology and global governance.

    The Joy of Cheap Gas and a Descent Into Hell
    By Franz Schurmann
    Date: 12-09-98
    Aside from air and food, nothing is so crucial to physical survival to all six billion humans as oil. Anglo-American corporations and governments have kept the oil supply plentiful and prices steady for a century, despite fearful challenges. But today plunging oil prices are sending frightening signals. Franz Schurmann, professor emeritus at UC Berkeley, wrote on the oil crisis of 1973-74 in his "The Foreign Politics of Richard Nixon," (Institute of International Studies, UC, Berkeley, 1987).

    Bombardment of Iraq the Act of an Imperial President
    By Franz Schurmann
    Date: 12-17-98
    Is all the impeachment politicking really about why Clinton was not candid with Congress? The subsurface reality shows that this is perhaps the greatest power struggle between the President and Congress since the Union was formed -- and the direction of foreign policy is a key part of it. PNS editor Franz Schurmann, a professor emeritus of history and sociology at U.C.-Berkeley, is author of numerous books on world affairs.


* CALIFORNIA COLLAGE: California as Trendsetter for the Country and the World


* CIVIL CONFLICTS: Interpretive Reports on Ethnic, Religious, and Inter-National Conflicts Worldwide

    Impeachment a Battleground in the War at Home
    By Larry Everest
    Date: 12-16-98
    The impeachment debate is stirring deep fears among many on the left about the possibility of a right wing takeover. PNS commentator Larry Everest is a Marxist journalist whose work has appeared in the LA Times, Newsday, The Nation and other publications.


* YOUTH OUTLOOK: The World Through Young People's Eyes

    Teenage Detainees Say a Good "Rep" Now Means Being Responsible
    By PNS Writers in Juvenile Hall
    Date: 12-11-98
    For many young people your rep is your calling card, the way you're judged in a particular neighborhood or community. But what constitutes a good rep or a bad rep changes with the times. Five years ago, you earned a "good" rep if you excelled at hustling on the street. Today, amidst dramatic drops in violent youth crime rates, selling drugs earns you a bad rep while being "responsible" earns you a "good" rep. PNS surveyed over 100 young detainees in Bay Area juvenile halls about what they see as the best and the worst rep to have these days. What follows is a representative sampling of their essays. The surveys were conducted as part of weekly writing workshops we run in five juvenile detention facilities and from which we publish a weekly journal called The Beat Within.

    Teens Learn Early On That Lying is the Key to Surviving
    By YO! Staff, Pacific News Service
    Date: 12-18-98
    What is it like to grow up in a culture where the key to survival -- not to mention success -- is lying? As Congress votes on the fate of a prevaricating president, PNS asked three teenagers to write about how "the system" taught them early on to lie. Hazel Tesoro, Sayyadina Thomas and Anonymous, all 18, are on the staff of YO! (Youth Outlook), a newspaper by and about young people produced by Pacific News Service.

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